Math creativity + caring = Golden Apple

One might wonder how tying a rubber band around Barbie's feet and tossing her off a high school auditorium balcony could pass as a math lesson.

But Danna Dotson's students know that the "Barbie bungee jump" is just one of the many inventive experiments their teacher uses to explain hard-to-understand math concepts. The teenagers pitched Barbie, a Bratz doll and a Harry Potter action figure off the balcony as part of an algebra lesson on linear patterns.

"She makes math fun, and she makes it interesting," said Sinead Garnett, 15, a sophomore at Lindblom Math and Science Academy in West Englewood.

Dotson's commitment to finding creative ways to teach algebra, geometry and trigonometry helped make her one of this year's 10 winners of the Golden Apple Award, an honor bestowed upon some of the best teachers in Chicago and the suburbs. Dotson was one of three honored Thursday.

Seven other teachers were named earlier this week and last week.

"I'm humbled and shocked," Dotson said after a raucous award presentation in her classroom. "There are so many wonderful teachers out there. I feel honored to be chosen."

A Chicago native, Dotson fell into teaching. As a teenager, she was fascinated with computers and mathematical equations. She enrolled at DePaul as a computer science major.

"But then I started to volunteer at the YMCA and, after working with the kids, I totally changed my mind about a career," Dotson recalled. "I loved math and I loved computers. But I loved working with the kids the most."

Dotson's grandmother, Ida Simmons, who was at Lindblom on Thursday to help pay tribute, said her granddaughter is the perfect math teacher: logical thinker, serious, determined and focused. But Simmons said that when Dotson was younger, family members wanted her to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a nurse.

"I'm glad she never listened to us because she is such a wonderful math teacher," Simmons said.

Garnett, who nominated Dotson for the award, recalled spending many early mornings and late afternoons in Dotson's classroom going over difficult algebraic equations.

"If you don't understand something, she just keeps staying with you and staying with you until you get it," she said. "She won't give up, and she won't let you give up."

Lindblom principal Alan Mather said Dotson is the rare teacher who shows passion for her students inside and outside of the classroom.

"She gets so involved in the lives of her kids, they become part of her life," he said.

The other Golden Apple winners named Thursday are:

David Eanes, a music teacher at Thornridge High School in Dolton, who has helped his students win numerous awards, including top honors at the annual All-American Music Festival in Orlando.

Kraig Conyer, an adaptive PE teacher at Hinsdale South High School in Darien, who launched the school's Special Olympics program.

A total of 803 high school teachers from Cook, Lake, Will, Kane and DuPage Counties were nominated for the award.

Each of the 10 Golden Apple Award winners will get a tuition-free fall-term sabbatical at Northwestern University, a personal computer and $3,000.